Antonio Neves, a motivational speaker, gave a presentation on creating your own luck on Wednesday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m.

The presentation, which lasted around two hours, was held in the Cochran Ballroom on the MUW campus and drew a considerable crowd.

“I teach college students how to create their own luck, said Neves. “This means having amazing experiences on campus and in their careers.”

Neves, a business journalist, executive coach, executive producer and a professional communicator who has worked for many media outlets including Nickelodeon (as a co-host on U-Pick Live), PBS, BET, NBC and E!, used humor, anecdotes and real world examples to convey his message. Neves gave several steps to creating your own luck including getting uncomfortable, being interested in and associating yourself with greatness. He also emphasized that ideas were useless without life, meaning that until an idea is brought to life, it is still nothing but an idea.

Another example used by Neves was that at 211 degrees, water is just hot. However, one more degree and the water begins to boil. Neves equated this to that one degree of discomfort that often comes before a great breakthrough.

The message seemed to resonate with some MUW students.

“[I will take away] the basic idea of never getting too comfortable with life,” said Philip Stoner, a junior English major from Caledonia, Miss.

Stoner also said that he felt like people sometimes get too complacent with their lives and that Neves’s presentation is a good prevention for that situation.